AAA Ambulance Services Launches New Dispatch Operation Using New Technology

HATTIESBURG, MISS. - The sound of an ambulance siren symbolizes help is on the way, but

how long will it take for help to arrive?

AAA Ambulance Services in Hattiesburg developed a new study to cut down on the amount of

time it takes for medical personnel to arrive on the scene of an emergency.

"We don't sit in a station and wait on a call," AAA Ambulance Services' Chief of Information

and Technology, Andy Geske said. "We will dynamically deploy an ambulance to our red areas

and our purple areas because we are expecting a call there."

AAA Ambulance services use a statistical map to predict where and when accidents occur in

numerous locations across the Pine Belt.

"It's like a heat map or a weather map," Geske said. "It starts with green, yellow, red, and

purple. The hotter it gets the more likely you are to have a call within that area."

AAA Ambulances sit in these hot spots waiting for an accident to happen, so they can quickly

jump into action.

"So, they sit on the side of the road... so you see them sitting at intersections, you see them

sitting at minute marks, you see them sitting at different parking lots and big areas... and they're

actually waiting on the next call.," Geske said.

By sitting on the side of the road where an accident is predicted to happen EMS is able to cut

down their response time significantly. So, when you call 911, somebody is already on the way.

"My dispatchers for instance, have a time limit of forty-five seconds to dispatch an ambulance

call," Geske said.

After dispatching a vehicle that is already in close proximity, help shows up in less than 10

minutes.

"Our average response time in the city of Hattiesburg, for instance, the urban area we try to be

there in less than nine minutes, and we meet that goal about eighty-five to eighty-eight percent of

the time," Geske said.

This is six minutes faster than the nation's average response time of 15 minutes. It is a process

that happens constantly throughout the day.

"On a Monday through Friday for instance, we will top two-hundred calls, and you average that

out on a monthly basis it's about one-hundred-ninety calls a day over a month's period of time,"

Geske said.

AAA Ambulance Services says this process is important when it comes to making sure everyone

in the community is kept safe.

"It's invaluable," AAA Ambulance Services' chief of operations, Chuck Carter said. "What we

do everyday... most of the time parked on the side of the road waiting, but the things we do save

lives."

So, when you see an ambulance on the side of the road, don't think that they are goofing off or

not doing their job because they might be in the right place to save the next person's life.